I don´t think a lot of my visitors are still using the Microsoft Internet Explorer but there are some that do. My first advice would be to change the browser immediatly to firefox or opera, for those who are to lazy or have other reason to keep the insecure browser the IE Proxy Changer is a nice little addition to the internet explorer.

Proxy Changer is a windows program that runs in the system tray and allows you to quickly change between proxy servers, or to quickly change proxy settings. Simply setup proxy servers in the program and set one as default and one as an alternate to be able to quickly switch between them. Can also enable and disable proxy, set to automatically detect settings, or to use the automatic configuration setting, all from the system tray within a few clicks. Ideal for users who use a laptop between home and work, or for anyone who needs to quickly and effortlessly be able to change a proxy setting in IE

continue reading "IE Proxy Changer Program"

Now this is an interesting analysis of password recovery speeds. It compares password length and chars used to the time different computers need to bruteforce the password, ranging from Class A (speed of a pentium 100) to Class F (supercomputers, large scale distribution) computers.

They take a look at passwords that consist of only numbers, only letters, a combination of numbers and letters and finally letters and numbers and common symbols. For example a six digit password could be cracked by a Class A computer in about 9 hours while a Class F one would reveal the password in the same instance you started the process. Take a look and calculate how long it would take that someone could bruteforce your passwords.

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I´ve written about virtual computers before and found a nice way program to make the same method available for virtual software installations. Altiris Software Virtualization Solution lets you install every kind of software in a protected environment that prevents access from this software to your core system. This is great if you want to try out some new alpha / beta software or software that you are suspicious about.

PcMag has a great review about the software and offers a download for it as well. Its free for personal use and can be setup with ease. What the software does is the following, it creates a layer for the software that you want to install and emulates the surrounding operating system. Everything the newly installed software does is now done inside this layer and not in your real operating system.

continue reading "Altiris Software Virtualization Solution 2.0"

The question that many people ask is why would someone want to surf anonymously in the first place. Why would someone who does not do something illegal want to surf anonymously at all ? I can think of lots of reasons, here are a few:

You come from a country where free speech is only a theory. Countries include china, north korea, most islamic countries, germany and france for instance.

You work in an environment that prohibits access to parts of the internet.

You write about a certain situation and want to make sure no one knows that it´s you, for instance you blog about your current job or the situation in your home town.

You dislike that the government tries to track everyone and everything on the internet.

You are paranoid

Hope that´s settled now. Let us start with the methods and technology to stay anonymous.

continue reading "How to surf anonymously on the internet"

The guys of darknet.org.uk have posted a new article that lists the 10 best security live cd distros. Each distribution is introduced in a small paragraph and features links to the distributions homepage.

continue reading "10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery)"